The Michigan Daily-Sataurday, March 29, 1980-Page 7
WW U atomic bomb survivors recount
experiences and warn of present dangers
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1980
Richard Wyatt
St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, D.C.
"Cat Studies in Psychosis"
MHRI CONFERENCE ROOM 1057
3:45 to 5:00 p.m.
TEA 3:15 p.m. MHRI Lounge
By ELEONORA DI LISCIA
"My wife was out shopping. When the explosion
came she was blown away 20 feet ... When I found
her, half the skin of her face was burnt and water was
accumulating beneath the skin. She was severely
burnt," said Shiji Ikeda in a somber voice.
Thirty-five years after the bombing of Hiroshima
Ikeda tells of the pain and anguish he experience as a
resident of that city on August 6, 1945. Ikeda and two
others who endured long-term trauma due to their
exposure to the bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, spoke to 30 listeners in the First
*Presbyterian Church Thursday night as part of a
nation-wide tour to warn Americans of the dangers of
nuclear arms.
IKEDA GAVE a detailed, 20-minute account of the
Hiroshima bombing. "On that morning, I was stan-
ding in my backyard with my newborn boy in my ar-
ms. Just then when I looked up I saw far away a B-29
bomber flying above us through thin clouds. Then
came flash - bluish white - all over the sky. I
ducked and ran into the house with my baby, so it
took three or four seconds for the shock waves to
reach our house. Then I fell, I couldn't discern
anything," he said.
Takeko Takeshita, who also lived in Hiroshima at
the time of the incident, also described the bombing
with Ikeda acting as her interpreter. "With just one
A-bomb our whole city was reduced to ashes," she
said. "Many were instantly killed. My father and
brother died an instant death. My mother came back
home with four or five two-inch nails driven into her
feet and was severely wounded. I looked for the
bodies of my father and younger brother and went to
the center of the explosion. There I found piles and
piles of dead bodies."
Of the victims, Takeshita said, "I saw lots of people
with falling and peeling skins that turned into
blackish red or sometimes purple. In a day or two,
wounds began to cover their skin."
THE IMMEDIATE horror involved in the atom
bomb attacks on Japan was not the only issue ad-
dressed. The speakers told of serious health problems
they say they have encountered as a result of their
exposure to radiation.
Some time after the bombing, Takeshita married
and bore a son. When the child was 14 months old, he
died of leukemia, a tragedy she says was caused by
the radiation. She didn't specify any other serious
problems she has since suffered from the radiation
"but still, I cannot tell at any moment the devil will
come again," she added.
Dorothy Wondrash, another of the speakers, said
her husband was sent to Nagasaki with the U.S.
Marines to supervise the civilians, during which time
he did not wear protective clothing. She said that his
exposure to the radiation forced him to have one of
his legs amputated several years later. -
WRESTLING
CONSCIENCE
LOOKING BACK
March 31-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room 5-Michigan Union
A discussion of various views of war (just war, CRUSADE, pacifism, and
NUCLEAR WAR). Presentations will include a brief history of registration and
the draft in the U.S., CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION and resistance to militar-
ism. How is our present decision-making influenced by history?
* Oil platform collapses in the North Atlantic.
SORTING OUT
MAKING A STAND
COMMITMENT TO ACTION
April 7-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room 4-Michigan Union
April 14-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room 4-Michigan Union
April 21-7:30 p.m.
Conference Room 5-Michigan Union
(Continued from Page 1)
constant maintenance checks, a
spokesman for Phillips said.
NORWEGIAN PRIME Minister
Odvar Nordli, who flew to the disaster
site after conferring with his cabinet,
announced the formation of a
commission of inquiry to investigate
the cause of the accident, which
Phillips said was a mystery.
A company spokesman said the
platform was built to withstand waves
up to 99 feet high and winds far worse
than those blowing at the time of the
accident.
"We have no idea what caused the
disaster," the Phillips spokesma said.
"We only know that one of the pontoon
legs collapsed."
HUNDRED OF MEN panicked and
"quite a few" were trapped in jammed
doorways while the four-story-high oil
rig was sinking in the icy North Sea,
survivors said.
Olaf Skotheim, a Norwegian, said
there was "total panic."
"Everyone was trying to get out of
the narrow rooms, down the long
corridors and up the narrow, steep
stairs," he said.
ANOTHER SURVIVOR, Olav
Eorshein, said, "People panicked as
everyone was rushing for the doors. I
believe quite a few were trapped inside
because the doors were jammed ..."
Many men blundered in darkness
from a packed movie theater when the
lights went out.
Some of the 228 men aboard the rig
escaped into the sea and probably died
in the freezing waves and 78 mph winds.
Some survivors used their shoes to bail
water from their life rafts.
The rig, with its dormitories, dining
and recreation rooms and movie
theater, was an oasis of comfort for
merin who toil in one of the grimmest
work places on earth-the icy, dark and
usually stormy North Sea.
A rescue workers who flew over the
scene yesterday said all that was
visible in the now calm sea were the
four remaining legs.
"They looked just like soft teddy
bears' feet," he said in amazement.
"There is nothing above the waterline
out there to make you realize there was
every anything wrong."
It has been found tht one person in 20
had an extra rib. The condition is three
times more common in men than in
women.
Me dieval end
Rena is sine Cegiu
MARC Studnt Fleeing
Fll #dWinter1980-81
Would you like . to live in an elegant
neo-Tudor mansion (East Quad)? Dining hall,
library, cultural events, interesting asso-
ciates, old-world ambience. The Medieval
and Renaissance Collegium is now accept-
ing reservation for student accommodations
in the MARC Residence House, effective
September 1980. if you are a MARC con-
centrator or if you are interested in the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, you are
eligible to live in the Marc House. For
information or to reserve a room for the
Fall, call BOTH the Housing Office (763-
3164, 1011 SAB) AND the MARC office
(763-2066, 206 Tyler, East Quad) with
your name and address.
Act now on your reservation. Only a
limited number of places are available.
PRESENTED BY THE SCHOOL OF NATURAL RESOURCES
NE'W GROUND:
A COMING OF AGE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES
FILM SERIES: MARCH 31-APRIL 4
Each evening at 7 P.M. AUDITORIUM B
ANGELL HALL-FREE ADMISSION
MARCH 31: Mzima: Portrait of a Spring (MCGraw Hill, 1973)
and The Other Way (E. F. Schumacher) (BBC, Time-Life, 1974)
APRIL 1: At the Crossroads (Stouffer Productions, 1975)
and The Right Whale: An Endangered Species (National Geographic, 1976)
and A Great White Bird (NFBC, 1976)
APRIL 2: The Rengwable Tree (NOVA, 1979)
and Where Did The Colorado Go? (NOVA)
APRIL 3: Tragedy or Triumph? (U.N. Journal Films, 1975)
and The New Alchemists (MFBC, 1975)
and Farming and the Land (Image Resources, 1977)
APRIL 4: City Farmstead (Energy Productions, 1977)
and The Energy Crunch: The Best Way Out (CBS, 1979
and Solar Promise (1980)
GUEST AND LECTURE PANEL SERIES
APRIL 7-10, 1980 Pendleton Room, Michigan Union 7 P.M.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FOR DETAILS CONTACT THE DEAN'S OFFICE, 3516 Dana Bidg., 764-2550
(ALL FIRMS COURTESY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA)
i
Sponsored by: Wesley Foundation, Guild House, Lord of Light Lutheran
Canterbury Lot, PRGM, and the Office to Ethicssand Religion. F
Who reads it g?
" COOL CATS
r .
Doily Photo by JOHN HAGEN
M ama mia.
Apprehensive contestants prepare to gorge themselves with pizza yesterday during the Count of Antipasto's "I-Eta-Pi"
contest held in honor of Greek Week. Other happenings related to the event included a bed race down East University
and an All-American Pep Rally held on the Diag.
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